Hakan Karaardic from Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University in Turkey provides insight into three studies he is engaged in. Please read on to learn about the Alpine Swift geolocator project, how to sort out the subspecies of Barn Swallow in Turkey and ringing birds with students and their teachers. Migration is the linking pin.

The 14th Pan-African Ornithological Congress took place in Dakar, Senegal in October. There was inevitably a lot of scientific interest and discussion about migratory landbirds and the MLSG was involved in a lot of this.

Each year billions of birds migrate between their breeding sites in Europe and non-breeding sites in Africa. The migratory life-style allows them to make optimal use of seasonal changes in food. But how flexible is this migratory life-style when environments are rapidly changing? Can they change their timing and movement decisions to keep track of advancements in peak-food availability during breeding as a result of climate warming?